Harmony And Composition: Basics to Intermediate [Illustrated] [ペーパーバック]

If you're looking for a book for beginning piano, theory, or composition studies, look no further. This book is the total package for building a solid foundation of musical skills and understanding.

The explanations of harmony are very clear and easy to understand. I have a degree in organ performance and was just a couple courses shy of a theory degree, and I have never seen the principles of harmony and voice leading explained so well. Now, I can write and play good music with proper voice leading the first time through without spending hours troubleshooting problems of parallel 5ths and 8ves and doublings. And the great thing is that the concepts aren't just explained abstractly, but practical application at the keyboard is taught at every step of the curriculum. I am using this book to learn to improvise at the keyboard in a classical idiom, and I am extremely pleased with my progress. In about two months of practicing in my free time after my 9-5 job, I am able to improvise the equivalent of basic-intermediate children's pieces in every key.

The book also lays a very solid foundation for general music techniques such as sight reading, rhythmic training, and getting around the keyboard. Personally, I've always struggled with sight reading, but this book has helped fill in the gaps where my abilities were lacking before. My sight reading has improved significantly, and I'm very pleased with that. I am also able to better understand what is going on harmonically in the pieces I am reading, which helps my reading even more, just like how in English you can read more quickly when you understand where the author is going with his thought processes.

Another great thing about the book is the writing style. It is very easy to follow and isn't pretentious at all. That is the mark of a truly intelligent and gifted teacher, to be able to make things sound simple and easy, rather than trying to sound impressive with an obtuse writing style.

The book and DVD also lay a great foundation for the physical technique of playing the piano. Knowing how to play won't do you much good if your hands are crippled by tendonitis from years of improper technique. The DVD has clear examples and explanations of everything from proper posture to finger and wrist movement.

The pedagogical approach is also excellent. You can really tell that the author is an experienced teacher, and the book does a good job of helping you avoid the pitfalls that tend to trip students up. Having a good foundation is extremely crucial if you want to progress to higher levels of music making. Otherwise it is like trying to play hockey when you don't know how to ice skate very well.

The only shortcoming of the book that I have found is that it could use a few more exercises at times. There are enough exercises to learn the material, but sometimes I wish there were more to help me learn the concepts so cold turkey that I don't even have to think about it. Perhaps a computer program to randomly generate drills would be a good addition in the future. (In all fairness, I know the author also has a curriculum that is broken down into multiple books and goes at a slower pace, so perhaps that version would have more drills.)

Highly recommended.

Simply put, this book is amazing. It is amazing for those musicians who have a background in music, but for some reason, were never able to put everything together. I think my situation is similar to most:

I started music at age 6 on the violin. I had gotten good enough at it that by age 12 I decided to learn both the violin and the french horn simultaneously. By high school, I was good enough that I was receiving awards from various prestigious organizations like Lincoln Center, Juilliard Pre-College and the Inter School Orchestra (ISO). However, in college I realized that I had a passion for improvising and that I would like to try my hand at composing. I took what I had learned from all those years, at all the highly ranked schools, and you know what I found? That I couldn't even write a proper chord progression, let alone a cogent piece of music. There were just too many gaps in my education due to both poor instruction and lack of interest on my part. After all, most instrumentalists either don't care about the theory, or the sequence of courses they take aren't properly structured.

I decided that if I was going to make a go at this I should pay attention to those who came before me. It would be necessary to understand and compose in the classical idiom to understand where modern music was coming from.

I ended up taking a class at another big name institution. Towards the end of the semester the teacher was absent for some reason and we had a sub. It was Deborah Jamini. Where the teacher had failed to put the coursework together in an entire semester, she was able to sum up in the course of 45 minutes! So, I looked her up online and came across this book, which is pure gold.

Through the step-by-step, logically sequenced, cumulative instruction, I was able to learn the basic classical idiom in 6 months. And not only could I write a 4-part harmony, and a melody over a bass line, but I was even able to to take steps into impressionism, modal music and even jazz! Thanks to this book, I have an appreciation for the classical music of America. Something I never liked because I didn't really understand it. And it didn't stop there. Whenever I hear a piece of music on tv, I immediately recognize the devices, thanks to this book. It is amazing how much one learns in such little time.

I would laud her more, but I think you get the picture. If this is the first review you are reading, you should check out the first on the list. It details more of the nitty gritty and you should be able to check out some of the pages on the "Click to read more" as well. Although this book looks expensive, it clearly puts forth years of material that you would otherwise require several poorly written books to get the same education. Get this book now!!!

I was a little hesitant about purchasing this book due to its cost. But I did it anyways and "whoa!", what a find it was! I learned a ton from this book and can't wait for the advanced version to come out. The lessons are put together in a very logical order and makes you learn by doing. Each lesson has a few exercises to apply what you learn. I am very pleased with this book and will continue reviewing the material in it. It is a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn how to compose music. For people who already compose, this book will make you sound even better!